Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer infographic
Graphic shows details of the JUICE mission.
GN44152EN

SPACE

Mission to find life on Jupiter’s icy moons

By Jordi Bou

April 13, 2023 - Europe’s €1.6 billion voyage into deep space will explore the frozen oceans of Ganymede, Europa and Callisto to hunt for signs of extraterrestrial life.

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, or JUICE, is slated to launch from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, onboard an Ariane 5 rocket.

The six-tonne spacecraft will flying past Earth three times and Venus once, on a 6.6bn-km journey lasting more than eight years, before going into orbit around Jupiter in July 2031.

It will then settle permanently around Ganymede in late 2034. The aim of the mission is to find out if any of the moons are habitable and can support life.

Jupiter is one of the outer planets of our solar system, far away from the Sun.

Despite this, Jupiter’s moons are hotter than they should be at this distance from the Sun and scientists believe that this is because the gravitational pull from Jupiter on the moons results in a squeezing and pushing which heats them up.

This energy and warmth results in something else – water – and for scientists wherever there is water, there is an opening for life.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 11/04/2023; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: NASA, ESA
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